The present invention relates generally to impulse generators, and more particularly to an impulse generator composed of a minimum number of transistors.
An impulse generated from the edge of another signal is required for a variety of applications in the electronics industry. Such edge detecting impulse generators are commonly required in logic applications to generate clocking signals, triggering signals, and the like. Standard edge detecting and impulse generating schemes utilize a delay chain of many gates. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,370,569 discloses an edge detector utilizing a chain of three transistors in combination with an output gate transistor. However, such a circuit requires substantial IC area and power. This is a distinct disadvantage in high frequency applications wherein such large IC areas would tend to hold more stray capacitance which degrades high frequency signal propagation.
The invention as claimed is intended to remedy the above-described drawbacks of the prior art.
An advantage offered by the present invention is that an impulse generator is fabricated with a minimum of transistors in a significantly reduced IC area and with significantly reduced power dissipation. The impulse generated in the invention has a predetermined width, regardless of the width pulse which triggered its generation.